MIDDLE-AGED people in England are far healthier than their US counterparts, a study has shown.

Rates of diseases such as diabetes, lung cancer and high-blood pressure among Americans aged between 55 and 64 were up to twice as high as those in England. Americans also had higher rates of heart disease, heart attack and stroke.

The diabetes rate in America, at 12.5 per cent, was double that in England, at 6.1 per cent. Heart disease was 50 per cent higher among middle-aged Americans. The proportion suffering from high blood pressure was about 10 per cent less in England. In both countries lower income and education levels were associated with poorer health, according to the study by the Rand Corporation and the Institute for Fiscal Studies at University College London.

But the healthiest Americans in the study — those with the highest income and education levels — had rates of diabetes and heart disease similar to the least healthy in England.

The disparities occur even though medical spending per person is more than twice as high in the United States. The differences between the two countries in smoking, obesity and alcohol use did not explain the differences. Smoking levels are similar, while excessive drinking is more common in England and obesity is more prevalent in the US.

The study of 4,386 US citizens and 3,681 English residents was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Professor James Banks, of the UCL Department of Economics and Institute for Fiscal Studies, said: “It may be that England’s shorter history of obesity or differences in childhood experiences create an advantage . . . this may mean that, over time, the gap between England and the US will begin to close.”

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